


Take Your Time

by Eustacia Vye (eustaciavye)



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-28
Updated: 2010-12-28
Packaged: 2017-10-14 04:47:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/145536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eustaciavye/pseuds/Eustacia%20Vye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes New Year's Day really is the start of a good year.</p><p>For the inception_kink prompt: <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/inception_kink/11005.html?thread=23090941#t23090941">Following a new year's superstition: The first person to enter your home after the stroke of midnight will influence the year you're about to have.</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	Take Your Time

"Stupid party, stupid friends, stupid New Year," Ariadne muttered, throwing her coat and scarf onto the back of her couch. She had been feeling lonely lately, as she had been so work focused after the Fischer job. She finished her program and had started a regular, real world job, which had made Miles happy. He had been so worried about her falling into the dreaming as his daughter had. Ariadne supposed that she chose the real world more for Miles' sake than her own. She missed the dream sharing, and she missed the ability to create impossible things inside of the dreams. She had traded e-mails with the others occasionally, but it wasn't the same. One of her friends from work had invited her to the New Year party she was throwing, and Ariadne had hoped to have a little fun there. Instead, she was hit on by the idiot temp that didn't know her name, had three different drinks spilled on her dress and couldn't even find Sandrine to tell her she was leaving.

The night was a disaster. If anything, it seemed to sum up how awful the year had been for her. It was empty and lifeless, and she was about to ring in the New Year the same way. How depressing and pathetic.

Ariadne kicked off her heels and turned on her TV. She didn't have much in her fridge, but she grabbed a soda and lounged on her couch. So much for buying a new party dress.

She watched the countdown to the new year with bleary eyes. It would be pathetic to cry, and Sandrine had told her about the superstition where what happened at midnight would influence her coming year. She refused to cry at midnight. Things were sad enough as it was. There was no need to kick start the next year with tears and loneliness.

As the clock ticked over, she raised her soda can in a mocking salute. "Goodbye 2010. You sucked."

There was a knock at the door as she drank from the can. Frowning, she got up and opened the door her apartment.

Arthur was standing there, looking as though he had run up the five flights to her tiny apartment in Paris. She blinked at him stupidly, watching him struggle to regain his breath. He looked good, his hair mussed and warm brown eyes smiling at her. He had a heavy coat on, but she could see regular denim jeans and loafers on his feet. "Um. Arthur. You're here."

He cracked a smile. "Yeah. Did I miss the countdown? My flight was late."

Ariadne stood aside and let Arthur in. "You just missed it. Welcome to 2011."

"I don't know... The future feels exactly the same," he said with a smile. She took his coat when he shrugged out of it, and he had on a thick cable knit sweater. It felt almost odd to see him dressed in such a casual fashion. She mentally pictured him in suits without a hair out of place. "It's good to see you, Ariadne," he said, grinning at her.

She smiled back at him. "Yeah. It's great that you're here." She impulsively hugged him tightly, and she breathed in deeply as he wound his arms around her to return the hug without any reservations. "How have you been?"

"Working, actually. Sorry I didn't return your last couple of e-mails. Internet wasn't exactly a priority for the past few months." He looked almost sheepish. "I had to keep my head down for a while. Things went belly up on the last job I did."

"What happened?"

They sat on her couch, and Ariadne found herself drawn into the tale of that last job. Arthur had worked with a series of extractors after Cobb retired from the business. Most of them couldn't measure up, but it was work. Arthur despised being idle, and did jobs more to keep busy than because he had any significant financial need to do so. This latest job was a complete botch, with the extractor getting killed, the forger being tortured into revealing the name of their employer prior to her death and Arthur running for his life. "It doesn't always go south that badly, but when it does, it really does."

"Is it safe to come here, then?" Ariadne asked, concerned.

"I'm starting over," Arthur replied. They were facing each other on her couch, not bothering to pay attention to the New Year's special on TV. His hand was close to hers, and his fingers brushed against hers as he shifted position. "The persona I used for that job was officially found dead a month ago in Brazil. I had a little help arranging that one, and apparently they fell for it. I waited a while just to be sure."

"So what now?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I probably should back off and not go back into the business for a while. I don't _have_ to work. But I've done this for so long I don't know what else to do anymore. I know I need to start over with a new identity and a new team, but I haven't figured who I'm going to be."

"You can stay here for now," Ariadne found herself saying. She could have kicked herself once the words were out of her mouth. It wasn't as if they were together. They weren't anything but colleagues, and Arthur could possibly still be in danger.

He smiled widely at her, eyes crinkling in the corners. He looked so impossibly young all of a sudden, so genuinely pleased to be near her. She found herself smiling back at him shyly, feeling a little flustered. It reminded her of the kiss in the second level of the Fischer job. She hadn't seen it coming, and it had thrown her into a spin. For weeks afterward she had thought about that kiss, wondering if there had been more to it. She had contacted him afterward, hinting that they should meet up and have dinner, but Arthur always seemed so unfailingly polite.

Arthur tentatively covered her hand with his. "I appreciate the thought, but this place seems too small for two people."

"Do you have somewhere else you can go?"

"There are a few contacts I could probably call, see what strings I can pull. But I wanted to see you first. I needed to see you."

It had been months since she had last seen him. Not that she was counting.

"You wanted to see me?" Ariadne asked, the words finally sinking in.

"I missed you," Arthur admitted.

Ariadne forgot how to breathe in that moment. "I missed you, too," she said softly.

They leaned forward and kissed, soft and gentle. It was the beginning of things, a fleeting touch of lips that still sent static through Ariadne. She found herself smiling as she pulled back, and saw the slightly dazed look on Arthur's face that must have mirrored her own.

"I don't know what's coming in the new year, but I want you in it," Ariadne murmured, dropping her free hand onto his knee.

Arthur tightened his grip over her hand on the back of her couch. "I definitely want that."

Ariadne grinned at him, feeling a thousand times better than she felt even an hour ago. If this was how her coming year was going to be, she definitely approved.

They fell asleep on her couch after talking for hours, arms tangled around each other. Ariadne's head was pillowed on Arthur's chest, his heartbeat steady beneath her ear. There was a dizzying moment of unreality when Ariadne woke up, something that made her think to look for her totem for the first time in months. It was the TV that set her at ease, though; she never watched early morning TV because she was usually too busy rushing around to get ready for work.

Ariadne was comfortable on top of Arthur, one arm tucked beneath him and the other across his chest. His arms were around her, one leg thrown over hers. He was still asleep, his features smooth and relaxed. He seemed so young suddenly, so at ease. She knew he wasn't that much older than she was, maybe only a year or two, but somehow all the time he spent being a bad ass in dreams made him seem so much older. She found herself tracing the curve of his cheek, faint traces of stubble pricking at her fingers.

Arthur shifted slightly beneath her, lips falling partly open. They were soft, and Ariadne couldn't help but run her fingers over them gently. She used to watch him in the warehouse while taking a break from designing her levels. He had always been so focused that she hadn't originally seen past that. She hadn't really known him well at first, and a friendship of sorts had developed. He was right, though. They didn't really know each other.

She really, really, really wanted to.

After the Fischer job, she had been lonely. She had felt like part of a team then, part of something special. It had been amazing and had challenged her to be a better architect, to really put herself out there in her designs. Her real world designs were better as a result, even if they felt flat and lifeless in comparison. She had gone the safe route, but it felt unfulfilling. It wasn't fair to her friends from school or work; they were perfectly lovely people and great friends, but there wasn't the thrill of discovery and imagination every day.

Ariadne settled back down onto his chest. He was solid and real beneath her head, his breaths deep and even. She shut her eyes, a faint smile playing about her lips. It felt like the start of something new, something she hadn't even realized she was waiting for.

***

Arthur woke and didn't know where he was or what was going on. It was disconcerting; even with kicks and slow waking from dreams, he always had a fairly good sense of where he was. He moved to feel for his totem in his pocket, but his arm slid across a smooth back. He opened his eyes and saw Ariadne curled up around him, sleeping deeply. Something French was on her TV, there was a blinking message light on her answering machine and it was still the same tiny apartment they had fallen asleep in. As he shifted position on the couch slightly, Ariadne stirred, her hip digging into his and pressing his die deeply into his leg. It wasn't a dream then.

He grinned suddenly, arms tightening around her protectively. Thank god, this was real.

Not too long ago, Arthur was trapped in a dingy warehouse, thinking he was never going to see her again. He had clung to his mental image of her tightly, and she had been something like a talisman, his reason to stay alive in the middle of that fiasco. It had been one bad job after another once the Fischer job was over, which hadn't been like him at all. It took faking his own death to make him realize he had simply been coasting. He had moved from job to job in the past year, never really thinking about what came next. He had never allowed himself to plan farther than the next job, since that sometimes kept him from doing his research well enough. Arthur knew he could get bogged down in the details, but that was a trait that sometimes let him survive the messes he found himself in.

He wanted more, though. Funny how it took nearly being killed for real to make him see that. He had killed himself so often in dreams that he never really thought about death as anything more than a means to an end. It was an abstract concept, but now it was more concrete. Thinking about that nebulous _more_ in life led him to thinking about Ariadne. Maybe he had idealized her while he was so far away, but he had really enjoyed working with her during the Fischer job. He had liked seeing her absorb the dreaming like a sponge, that sarcasm simmering just beneath her words. She had taken Cobb to task, something Arthur knew he wasn't always good at doing. In some ways, she was utterly fearless. Ariadne fascinated him, and there had been that spark between them that hinted perhaps there could be something more than friendship between them. It was a spark he wanted to indulge in, which wasn't like him at all. Usually he could keep things on a professional level. Well, except for Eames goading him. They had worked with each other long enough that the other man knew how to push his buttons.

Arthur skimmed his fingertips over her arm before he started stroking her hair. His particular skill set didn't really lend itself well to other professions, and he honestly enjoyed his work most of the time. It was forever changing, keeping his interest and challenging him. Somehow he didn't think a legitimate job would work out as well for him. He might consider it for Ariadne's sake, or at least slowing down and being a little more selective about the jobs he took. He didn't want to put her in harm's way just because he was bored.

It was a new and almost scary situation, having to consider someone else in his future. Being alone these last few months hadn't been good for him, however. He had drowned himself in work and nearly got killed in the process. He knew he didn't have to prove himself to anyone, least of all Ariadne. She had liked him when they worked together, and there had been that give and take between them that he hadn't realized he missed until it was gone. They had fit well together, and it was more than simply an attraction between them.

Which really was all the more reason not to screw this up. It was a new year, a new identity, a new start. He couldn't ruin that.

Ariadne stirred slightly as he stroked her hair. He liked this sense of calm and belonging, how comfortable it was to wake up with her in his arms. It felt right somehow, as if his entire life had been nothing more than preparation for this moment.

"Hey," he murmured softly when she shifted position and rubbed at her face. She turned and smiled at him, and there was a sudden, fierce stab of possessiveness that shot through Arthur at the sight of that sleepy smile. No one else should see that. No one else should hold her this way but him.

He watched her as she disentangled herself to rub at her eyes and yawn. "This is sleeping in late for me."

"It's a holiday, it should be allowed," he said with a smile, watching her stretching. He laughed when she caught him looking. "What? You're beautiful."

"I just woke up," Ariadne protested.

"You're still beautiful."

There was a slight blush across the tops of her cheeks at his quiet words, and it was fascinating to watch. He hadn't thought she would feel shy about hearing that. Arthur leaned forward, hands sliding around her waist. Their mouths hovered close to each other, just inches apart, and he was tempted to kiss her senseless. He had been holding back earlier, testing the waters. He hadn't been entirely sure if she would even want him in her life, yet had hopped on a plane to be by her side hoping she would. It was possibly the most impulsive thing he had ever done in his life.

Even if she said no, he couldn't regret it.

Ariadne closed the distance between them, her lips gentle and soft over his. He slid his hands up her back, pulling her closer as he touched her tongue with his. She opened her mouth wider, and Arthur deepened the kiss. He kept himself from pushing as far as he wanted to go, not wanting to scare her off.

Arthur forced himself to go slowly. He could control himself enough to do this. He couldn't ruin this before it even happened, and he kept his die clenched in his fist as a reminder during their brunch together. This was real, and there was no do-over in another dream. It gave him time to really listen, and it was almost like diving into another job. His focus was on Ariadne, on the tilt of her lips as she talked, the way she gestured more wildly when excited or pushed her hair behind her ears. She had a delicate flush across her cheeks if he got too suggestive, and he wondered how far down it went. She had always picked up on things quickly, and he wondered what was going on in her mind as she looked up at him through her eyelashes.

"I'm sure you've been to the Louvre," he said as they walked through the streets of Paris.

"Sure. Every student has at some point," she had replied. Her expression was open and guileless, and Arthur had to tamp down on the urge to pull her into an alley and kiss her until she lost her breath.

"Let me bring you someplace better."

He brought her to the Musée Carnavalet, and watched her reactions closely as they walked through the exhibits of Parisian history. She paused at the hotels the museum was situated between and seemed entranced with the catacombs. Ariadne was caught up not just in the history, but in the lines and embellishments in the designs. Arthur had been to this museum dozens of times, and liked how it was a bit more off the beaten path than the Louvre. It was still a tourist attraction, but he didn't have the same hurried feel to see everything in a day. Here, the press of history made him slow down.

He needed that right now. He kept wanting to feel the texture of her hair between his fingers, or the silken feel of her skin against his. He needed to slow himself down, do this right. It was hard to remember that with the way she smiled at him, the way she cast him looks out of the corner of her eyes. His heart beat a staccato rhythm in response to her.

She had the bright flush across her cheeks afterward that had nothing to do with the cold and everything to do with the excitement of discovery. "I'd actually never gone there," she said, crisp tones betraying just how much she had enjoyed herself. "I liked being there, seeing all those things..." She stopped and shot him a self conscious look. "It's hard to explain how it feels, standing in the middle of those catacombs. Is that silly?"

"It's like gravity, isn't it? Something serious and important, but you don't always have the words for why it works."

Ariadne smiled. "Yeah. Something like that. Exactly."

Arthur led her down the twisting maze of streets. "I'm thinking of getting a place around here, maybe staying for a while." He paused, trying to gauge her reaction. "Know any good places to stay?"

"I thought you were going to talk to some of your old contacts."

"I'd rather get your input," Arthur admitted. "You have a better eye for living space."

She took the flattery with a playful smile, grasping hold of Arthur's arm. "Well, in that case..." She smiled a bit more. "What's your price point?"

Arthur shrugged. "Whatever will get me a large space that's easily defensible."

"In that case, I know the perfect spot. It's been on the market for months, and I wished I could have gotten it myself."

"After the payouts you've gotten, why didn't you?"

"It wouldn't fit my current status," Ariadne admitted ruefully. "It wouldn't be easy for me to explain how I could afford an apartment like that. And besides, I like the one I've got. It's been a good place to stay for a long time."

The apartment was large, with bright sunlight streaming in through the windows. It had an airy feel to it, with subtle architectural details that caught Ariadne's eye the times she had visited it. The floors were original hardwood, polished to a bright shine beneath the fifteen foot high ceilings. The primary living space was an open floor plan, with two bathrooms and two bedrooms in one corner. The bedrooms both had balconies overlooking a garden courtyard three stories below.

"It's a little large for one person," Ariadne began quietly, watching Arthur's expression as he took it all in.

"Well, maybe you'd join me here," Arthur said, looking around with a half smile. "I like this space a lot."

Ariadne blinked in surprise, lips tilted into the beginnings of a smile. "Arthur..."

"You'd know all the places to get furniture," he was continuing, looking around the living area. "And I'd need help decorating, you know." He looked at her, taking in her amused smile. "What? I would."

"You have fairly good taste. I've seen your subconscious, remember?"

Arthur laughed at her teasing. "Yes, well, it doesn't mean I couldn't use the help." He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. "It would let us spend more time together."

"I'll think about it," Ariadne said with a smile.

Arthur kissed her soundly, then pulled back to take in her expression. "Thinking about it yet?"

She laughed. "Maybe."

"I'll take that as a yes," he said, running his fingers down her back. He liked the feel of this apartment, and it was definitely the kind of space that would appeal to Ariadne. He could imagine the two of them sprawled out on a couch, or on a massive bed in the master bedroom. He liked the thought of the two of them moving around the kitchen or dining area, talking about all sorts of random things or planning their future together.

"It's a maybe. Pretty close to yes, but still a maybe," Ariadne clarified with a teasing note to her voice. "I may need convincing."

"Dinner tonight?"

"Sounds like good incentive to think about it."

Arthur matched her grin and kissed her forehead. This felt like a great start to a new year.

 

The End


End file.
